It has been awhile

I go out of town for a weekend and it completely messes with my blog routine....rats

I might as well start with last weekend:  I was invited back in the summer to play cello with a women's choir for the Columbia Stake conference on November 5th.  It is a rather tricky part because half of it is in treble clef which is not typical for the cello.  I needed to be at a Thursday evening rehearsal (November 2nd) so Steve and I left as soon as I finished teaching my strings class in Oakville Elementary.  Beckie was able to watch Sally, thankfully, and we left at 5:00 pm.  But, we forgot about the going home traffic so it was pedal to the metal all the way and I was only fifteen minutes later than planned.  Steven and Tamara hosted us and we had the lovely downstairs bedroom and full bathroom to ourselves for the weekend.  Steven took Friday off and he accompanied us to do some shopping at the Amish.  After lunch and a nap, I went over to Elizabeth Crippen's to help her with a clothing purging project.  She has lost a hundred pounds so she really needed to get rid of all her 2X and 3X clothes.  That evening, Steven, Tamara, Elise, Steve and I had dinner at Shakespeare's South.  Saturday, I was able to use the office - which also had the piano - at Steven and Tamara's for cello lessons - one with Ethan in the morning and one with Roberta in the evening.  It was so nice this time to not have to drive all over town to give lessons.  Ethan's house is about as far away from Steven and Tamara's as one could possibly get and still be in the city limits of Columbia.  That evening, we attended the evening session of stake conference so we could connect with as many old friends as we could but the talks were also super good which was an added bonus.  My cello solo went without a hitch in the Sunday morning session (keeping my brain in treble clef mode is tricky) and it was neat to see the creation of a brand new stake  - the Chariton River Stake - out of the Nauvoo and Columbia Stakes.  We also saw many more old friends and it was hard to break away but we really needed to leave so we could eat lunch (taco soup by Tamara and gluten-free mint brownies by Elise - YUM!) at Steven and Tamara's and then make another mad dash down I-70 back to St. Louis to attend a stake Christmas choir rehearsal.  We got home with time only to unpack the car  and only I ended up attending.  Honestly, if I wasn't a co-conductor, I would have stayed home, too.  On the way home after rehearsal, I got a call from Sam Carpintero asking if I could take her to the ER because her blood sugar was over 500.  I was still in my Sunday clothes, I had not eaten dinner, I had not unpacked but I loaded up the book I was reading and off I went to take her to the hospital.  We tried Barnes first because it was closer but they had a four hour wait time!!!!  So, we got back in the car and I called Mercy South and they had no wait time!!!  Twenty minutes later, we arrived and, sure enough, the waiting room was completely empty.  Nevertheless, Sam was there for over three hours.  Good thing I brought my book (which I finished).  I didn't get home until 11:30 and I went straight to bed.  I didn't even brush my teeth because 5:30 comes very early!

Well, that was a long narrative! We spend Halloween day shopping for clothes at Savers.  Now that I am teaching four days a week, I needed some dress slacks. Steve also needed some slacks. And,  because Tuesday is Senior Citizen day with 30% off, it was a very successful shopping experience.  That night, we went to the Southerlands.  Emily fixed chili and I brought gluten-free corn bread.  She took the three youngest out trick-or-treating and Steve and I stayed back at the house with Joe and Noah (who handed out candy as a headless Sir Thomas Moore).  It was a bitterly cold night so I was happy to be indoors.  Lucy was a haunted carousel.  Quinn was a scary something and Larkin was Sylvion, a Pokemon character...

Steve and I had several medical appointments over the last two weeks:  I had an eye exam and got new glasses.  Steve saw the dermatologist and had some skin cancers frozen off of his face and ears and one cut off on the back of his neck.  It was biopsied and he needs to return for more removal.  He also had his annual appointment with his nephrologist (kidney) doctor in Columbia.  Originally, it was the Thursday of the weekend we were going to be in Columbia so I could have gone with him to help drive but that was moved to a week earlier.  I had to teach and I had my eye exam that same day so Steve had to go it alone, poor guy.  

Two weeks ago, it was announced that a portion of our St. Louis Hills ward was going to be divided off and be made into the Tower Grove Branch.  Our street, Bates, is the southern border and, for a while, we thought we would be in this new unit.  But, because we are on the south part of Bates, we are still in the Hills ward - barely.  

We had our first hard frost right around Halloween so I spent some of my spare time last week digging up my elephant ears and dahlias for winter storage.  I am also still watering things outside due to the persistent drought we are experiencing.  

Since that hard frost, temperatures have returned to normal November readings - cold at night, but not really cold enough to freeze - and up in the 60's during the day.  Steve joined the young men, all three of them, on a campout Friday night (the 10th) at Lake of the Ozarks.  He said it was pretty cold overnight and the sleeping bag he brought was just not adequate.  Poor guy.  While he was out freezing his tail off, I was home making more applesauce Friday night.  I put up five quarts this time.  Yesterday, the 11th, I started off my day making pancakes and a gluten-free cranberry orange layer cake.  Then, I headed over to Carondelet Park to help with an invasive honeysuckle eradication project for two grueling hours.  It lasted three hours but I could only make it through two.  There were many people there and we chopped down a lot of invasive honeysuckle.  The photos show the area where we worked and the piles we made along the road to be collected at a later date.  

After I came home and recuperated in front of another episode of Loki (I watched 2.5 episodes on Friday night while processing applesauce), I went out to paint the new garage side door that our neighbor, Sergio, installed.  Here it is after the second coat...

Sergio was a head chef at a downtown sushi restaurant when they first moved in next door.  But, he is extremely skilled at repairs so about a year ago he started doing that full time with his oldest son and brother-in-law and other assorted friends he has from Mexico.  He noticed that our door was warped and terrible looking - that is because it was an interior door that couldn't withstand outdoor temperatures and humidity - and, evidently, among all his handyman jobs, he acquired an exterior door that was the right size and he installed it for us about a week ago.  I have a doorknob that I will put in once the paint has a chance to harden a bit - maybe next weekend.

So, I think this brings me up to date.  Steve and I started watching the live action Little Mermaid last night but we had to stop it and go to bed.  He was falling asleep in his chair and I was getting dozy myself.   My string teaching is going well - I still hate all the driving I have to do - and I have decided that I will not continue next year.  Sorry, Mehlville School District.  And, in spite of being so much busier, I still find time to do little creative things that feeds my soul.  So, all is well....